The present invention relates to the field of hand-held vacuum pumps, particularly of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,612,722, 4,775,302 and 4,806,084 by the present inventor, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Vacuum pumps are generally useful whenever a vacuum is desired, for example, to provide suction. Many types of pumps have been devised, but they often suffer from such drawbacks as complexity, expense, excessive bulk, inability to pull a suitable vacuum, and the like. The vacuum pumps of the aforesaid patents have significantly solved the need for a vacuum pump which is simple, inexpensive, lightweight, compact and portable, and one which can pull a useful vacuum.
Such hand-held vacuum pumps are particularly useful in various industries, such as the automotive industry for vacuum testing and repair, liquid sampling and the like. In the medical field such pumps have been used, for example, with vacuum extraction devices in childbirth, an aid for testing for throat blocking of choking victims, and other uses. Vacuum pumps manufactured according to the aforesaid patents have the ability to pull a vacuum of, for example, twenty-eight inches of mercury.
In some applications for such vacuum pumps, tubing connects the vacuum pump to whatever device a vacuum is being applied. As one skilled in the use of such pumps will realize, it is sometimes difficult to readily disconnect the tubing from the vacuum pump. Furthermore, there are many hand held vacuum pumps in use which do not have a tubing remover, and which would realize greater useability with an after-market tubing remover.